http://findmorgan.com/category/family-blogGil Harrington’s thoughts from September 22nd, 2010On September - 22 - 2010ADD COMMENTS Coming back from our trip to NYC to visit Alex and taking hold of my own home and settling in again I keep thinking: wouldn’t it be great if our lives were more like laundry. Such a wonderful process; the stretched out, sweat stained, frankly odorous stuff of living is miraculously reconstituted. A do-over! With reasonably minor effort all the dirty/unkempt/tangled/rough items we contact are cleansed and deodorized and folded back into their original configuration; a sweet smelling rescue.

Life in general and our lives in particular don’t usually work out this way. I wish we were laundry with a fragrant transfiguration looming. Somehow our reality cannot be folded into nice straight little piles any longer, even with HUGE effort and work. It just ain’t happening. After almost 1 year of struggling to find justice for Morgan Harrington’s murder, we are left with bloodstained clothing on our laps. We wish so much that life indeed really was like the miracle of laundry.

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P.S. bloodstains never come out

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~241~ "The Longer You Love,The Longer You Live,The Stronger You Feel,The More You Can Give."~ Peter Frampton

Ugh, I just attempted a post that went poof. SusieQ, I agree and spent days pouring over pictures to try to link this guy to the concert. The first time I saw him I almost fell off my chair. I pray daily for Justice for Morgan and Peace for her family.

Death of Cockeysville native spurs 'Day of Dialogue' at U.Va.Discussion groups, speeches and essays among event's activities

Charlottesville, Va. —

Nearly five months after women's lacrosse player Yeardley Love of Cockeysville was killed in her off-campus apartment, first-year University of Virginia president Teresa A. Sullivan told an audience attending the opening event of Friday's "Day of Dialogue that "we want to channel our grief into energy and use that energy into building a stronger, more unified community."

Sullivan conceded that while she was not yet working at the university when Love was killed, "Even from a distance, it was heartbreaking," she said.

Love's death on May 3 came two weeks before she was expected to graduate. It also came at the end of an academic year in which six others affiliated with the university died and another, Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington, disappeared. Harrington was last seen attending a concert at Virginia's John Paul Jones Arena; her body was later found on the edge of the campus.

"Yeardley Love's death was national news. For many others, their deaths received little attention," Sullivan said. "We gather for those people too."

Among the events scheduled were discussion groups during which students and other members of the university community could share their thoughts. Those group sessions were closed to the media. There will be the introduction of a student initiative called "Let's Get Grounded" that one its leaders, Will Bane, said would help those on campus recognize the potential for a violent act before it occurs.

The day-long program will end Friday afternoon, when the black sheer fabric that has covered the 10 south-facing columns on the school's famed Rotunda since last Thursday will be removed.

Art and architecture professor Sanda Iliescu formed the idea to shroud the columns. She also directed a project to place brightly-colored boxes around The Lawn for people to share their regrets of the past year and hopes for the future.

Iliescu recalled that while she and others were painting the boxes that symbolize "hope and renewal," impromptu discussions began about how the campus could work together to prevent tragedies — such as those involving Love and Harrington — from happening again. A suspect has not been arrested in Harrington's death.

Sullivan admitted "that we have to wonder if we might have done something differently."

Michael Suarez, director of the U.Va.'s rare books school, is among those who are expected to speak this afternoon. A Jesuit priest, Suarez wrote an essay after Love's death, entitled "A Bitter Valediction."

"Every student in my English poetry seminar knew that May 3, 2010 should not have been the date on her gravestone and she in no way deserved to die," Suarez wrote. "In their last class at the university for most in attendance, the air was filled with a bitter valediction, a profound sense of injustice, a troubling vulnerability, an overwhelming conviction that this should not have been."

According to police, Love, 22, was found in her bedroom facedown and motionless by roommates who called police thinking she was suffering from alcohol poisoning. Police then discovered that Love had been badly beaten in the face and head. Within hours, police arrested George Huguely, a Virginia men's lacrosse player from Chevy Chase who had dated Love for more than a year.

Love received her degree posthumously.

Huguely, 22, was charged with first-degree murder. He is currently being held without bond in a Charlottesville jail awaiting a preliminary hearing, which was pushed back Friday from Oct. 8 to Jan. 21 after a motion by his attorneys.

A judge also denied a local TV station's motion to allow television cameras and still photography in the courtroom during the preliminary hearing.

Judge Robert Downer said that while he typically allowed cameras in his courtroom and that having them for this case "is not going to abate the media frenzy," he thought their presence at a preliminary hearing for such a highly-publicized case could impact potential jurors.

Downer said that he would not want to see the trial moved to another jurisdiction as a result.

"This community should have the right to judge for itself," Downer said. .

Almost five months after the University of Virginia reeled from the brutal murder of one of its own, an air of mourning still pervades the Lawn. Columns of the Rotunda are clad in black veils on one end, and on the other, a preponderance of black-clad students, faculty, and staff stream into Old Cabell Hall for the start of the university’s Day of Dialogue: Toward a Caring Community.

The day is a continuance of a discussion that started May 3, said UVA President Teresa Sullivan. That was when the death of fourth-year Yeardley Love, a beautiful lacrosse star, rocked the university community and became a national story. Her former boyfriend, George Huguely, another lacrosse player, is charged with her murder.

“In a real sense, we are picking up from where we left off last May,” said Sullivan. “Those of us who weren’t in Charlottesville last May experienced Yeardley’s death from a distance, and even at a distance, it was heartbreaking.”

The September 24 Day of Dialogue was initiated by a student group called Let’s Get Grounded, and 1,500 registered to take part in discussions throughout the day that were closed to the media.

Sullivan noted that there were seven deaths of UVA students during the 2009-10 year— including a spelunker and an earthquake victim, as well as another murder victim: Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington, who disappeared from a Metallica concert.

“For some of these deaths, we’re left to wonder whether we might have done something differently…. whether we could have intervened,” said Sullivan.

“We’ve seen horrible events here in Charlottesville,” said Sullivan. “We acknowledge that violence and abuse are international issues.”

She said she’s been offered differing opinions on proper response— ranging from not talking about the deaths at all to a suggestion that students should be armed on Grounds, a proposal that brought hearty applause from at least one member of the Old Cabell Hall audience.

Art, poetry, music, and dance are part of the day’s process, the most visible of which are the black-veiled columns on the Rotunda designed by UVA art and architecture professor Sanda Illiescu. Installed about a week ago, the veils would come down around 5pm to symbolically close the day’s events.

“Note the progression from first person singular to plural,” said Sullivan, as she framed the day’s key questions: Am I my brother’s/sister’s keeper, and are we a caring community?

“We live in a broken world, and we’re not going to fix it in six hours,” acknowledged Sullivan.

During the press conference following the opening session, WVTF’s Sandy Hausman asked Sullivan whether the event was “preaching to the converted.”

Sullivan pointed back to the student-initiated Let’s Get Grounded, with its goal of teaching people to recognize when something’s wrong in the community, and when to act.

“Very few things happen in complete secrecy in the university,” said Sullivan. “When do you have a responsibility to speak up?”

The new UVA president remained on her message.

“We’re not going to get rid of “anger, hatred, drug abuse and all the rest of the things that might be root causes,” she said, “but what we can do is at least be a little more responsive when we know it’s going on.”

"Let There Be Light" - A place for conversation with the Rector of St. Paul's Memorial Church, 1700 University Avenue, Charlottesville, Virginia, 22903

Thursday, September 23, 2010Rekindling Our Light: We are responsible for the world

Last evening we hosted Rekindling Our Light, an interfaith prayer service in remembrance of victims of domestic violence, especially women students. We gathered, we lit candles, we prayed, we sang, we sat in silence.

I found the experience incredibly powerful and spiritually moving. I am grateful so many students attended, and I am grateful to The Rev. Ann Willms and United Ministries for organizing it.

Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus came together to offer prayers, each in their own tradition. We remembered the murder of Yeardley Love, a 4th year student who was murdered last year allegedly by her boyfriend.

We remembered Morgan Harrington, a student from Virginia Tech who turned up killed, left in a remote field, after a rock concert here in Charlottesville.

We remembered many others.

We prayed for peace, we prayed for an end to all forms of violence, and we asked for forgiveness for our neglect, our ambivalence, our ignorance.

My friend Jake Rubin, the rabbi with the Brody Jewish Center at the University of Virginia (Hillel), was with us last night at Rekindling Our Light. Last Saturday marked Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement, the day of asking for forgiveness. Rabbi jake preached powerfully about domestic violence last Saturday, and I am offering his words to you today. I believe this is an important sermon and I hope you will read it:(continued)

I went to Blink's site and read some of the commnets. For some reason, her site was slow to load for me. The picture of suspect looked enuf like Rod Howard where I would want to take another look at him. He has a conviction ( sex ) that was a felony, but it was plead down ? or reduced to a misdemeanor. It was years ago, but it is in his past.

I went to Blink's site and read some of the commnets. For some reason, her site was slow to load for me. The picture of suspect looked enuf like Rod Howard where I would want to take another look at him. He has a conviction ( sex ) that was a felony, but it was plead down ? or reduced to a misdemeanor. It was years ago, but it is in his past.

Yes, and even more disturbing is that he has lots of LE contacts and has a certain amount of trust within the community. Things that make me go HHHmmmm.....

http://www.cavalierdaily.com/2010/09/27/university-engages-in-day-of-dialogue/University engages in Day of DialogueParticipants discuss violence, bias, bystander effect in community; event responds to Love’s death last MayBy Caroline Newman, Associate Editor on September 27, 2010Members of the University community gathered Friday for the “Day of Dialogue,” a series of talks, performances and discussions focusing on frank conversations about violence and bias.The event was a joint collaboration between the president’s office, the office of the vice president for student affairs and a student group called Let’s Get Grounded, which encourages taking action rather than becoming a bystander.University President Teresa A. Sullivan called the Day of Dialogue a “first step in building the caring community we all want to have.”The day was intended to continue the conversations that began in the aftermath of Yeardley Love’s murder last spring by fellow student and varsity lacrosse player George Huguely, she said. That tragedy closed a year during which seven University students died, as well as Virginia Tech student Morgan Dana Harrington, who disappeared while visiting Charlottesville.Sullivan said she hopes frank conversation will help students continue to process these tragedies and come together as a community.Through grieving, we can deepen our connection to other human beings,” Sullivan said.She also acknowledged that violence and abuse are national and international problems and that many individuals suffer in silence and anonymity.“We gather today for those people, too,” she said.She asked participants to keep in mind that “human resilience is greatly underestimated” and urged them to “encourage one another and find ways to deepen our connection to one another.”The student-led Get Grounded Coalition was a key partner in developing the day’s events.“The University has a lot of questions that need to be answered,” said Will Bane, a member of the coalition. The Day of Dialogue, he said, “gives the university an opportunity to have an honest conversation and to evaluate whether or not we have a caring community,” and to confront difficult issues such as violence, alcohol abuse and sexual and homophobic bias.Top faculty members facilitated smaller group discussions in various rooms across Grounds. The first discussion, from 10:15 to 11:45, focused on the question, “Am I my sister’s / brother’s keeper?” The second discussion, from 2 to 3:30, asked, “Are we a caring community?” Groups were made up of members from diverse strata of the University community and included administrators, faculty, staff, undergraduate and graduate students, parents and members of the Charlottesville community.A break from noon to 2 p.m. allowed participants to enjoy lunch in the Amphitheater while various dance, poetry and music groups performed. Participants could also go to a resource fair on the South Lawn, which featured more than 30 groups and organizations within the University that focused on combating violence, bias, abuse and other issues.About 1,500 participants registered for the discussions, but there were fewer students in the discussions than anticipated, with male students being particularly underrepresented.Nevertheless, fourth-year College student Claudia Quintero said she thought the discussions could be the beginning of “working to rebuild our community in a positive way.” Meanwhile, third-year College student Emily Peters said the groups had a great mix of some students, community and faculty members, enabling many people to have conversations with people with whom they otherwise might not have spoken.Many discussions focused on the importance of recognizing issues within the community and standing up to them on an individual level. Dean of Students Allen Groves said he hoped community members would bear in mind the obligation they have to look out for each other, thus “continu[ing] the ongoing discussion that began last year.”Similarly, Sullivan noted that the discussions may lead to other conversations and events throughout the year.Pemberton Heath — a third-year college student and chair of Sustained Dialogue — said she believes Sullivan showed, by heading this event, that she is not afraid of confronting difficult issues surrounding the University.Heath said it would have been easy to jump straight into direct action or to move on simply into a new year. She praised the president for instead taking the time to “hear different voices who are so passionate about these issues.” Heath emphasized that dialogue is not just talking about issues; it is talking “in a very productive way, with a willingness to change your perspectives or to gain understanding.”In his closing remarks, English Prof. Michael Suarez said the University community is one dedicated to the concept of truth. Suarez suggested a broader description.“I think the truth is something we are meant to do” rather than just to know, Suarez said.Throughout the day, participants voiced concerns that discussions, even if they were productive, might not spread throughout the larger community. As a result, the day’s organizers are making efforts to ensure that the conversations begin to move beyond the day-long event.Students within the Let’s Get Grounded Coalition have developed training programs to combat the bystander effect, in which a bystander fails to recognize or react to a problem. So far, more than 500 students and faculty members have been trained in the program. Additionally, the group is working on sponsoring events related to its mission and on recruiting students to sign pledge cards saying they will “recognize, react and respect” in bystander situations.Sullivan emphasized that the administration will meet with discussion facilitators to review issues raised in the discussion sessions and will develop follow-up plans based on those conversations.“The honesty of today’s dialogue is a sign that we are moving in the right direction,” Sullivan said in her closing remarks.

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~241~ "The Longer You Love,The Longer You Live,The Stronger You Feel,The More You Can Give."~ Peter Frampton

http://findmorgan.com/category/family-blogGil Harrington’s thoughts from September 29th, 2010Grief is not an all or nothing process; like we are ok or we are in despair. There is a lot of wiggle room, not frank polarity which would be so much simpler. There are moments we all do well and there are times we fake it like crazy and it is sort of convinces. The problem is that when you have to do that, fake it, to make our pain tolerable/acceptable to others and self – it is just exhausting.

I am tired of growing, and trying, and following the rough path. I want it smooth and easy for a bit; we are due. I am just confounded that this is ours to walk – so damn hard. Then I remember the journey our daughter took. Morgan’s path ended with her shattered body strewn in a field and I am shamed by my weakness and my fatigue and I find motivation to soldier on for a little more. We must find some answers, some justice before we can put this down.

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~241~ "The Longer You Love,The Longer You Live,The Stronger You Feel,The More You Can Give."~ Peter Frampton

Following the publication of above piece at 10:36PM, at 11:01PM, students/parents/faculty got their first notification via email.

Dear Students:

I am writing to inform you of three disturbing incidents that have occurred recently near the Grounds. Because of the circumstances, information was not available earlier to share with you, but I believe it is important that you are aware of these incidents so you can take steps to protect yourself and those around you.

All three incidents occurred off Grounds. In two of the incidents, both involving female students, it is possible that the perpetrator is the same. Based on the description in each of these two cases, police have reason to believe that the perpetrator (or perpetrators) blends in well with the student community. It is also possible that he was lurking in each area before the attacks, observing potential victims.

In the first incident, a University of Virginia student was sexually assaulted near Chancellor Street on Sept. 17 at approximately 1:15 a.m. as she walked toward her residence. An unidentified white male knocked her to the ground and assaulted her. The Charlottesville Police Department is investigating.

In the second incident, a University of Virginia student reported, through a third party, that she was inside an unidentified fraternity house shortly after midnight on Sept. 19 when she was pushed into the pantry by an unidentified white male. Two friends heard her screams and opened the pantry door. The suspect fled the house on foot. He is described as a white male between the ages of 18 and 20, approximately 5 feet 11 inches tall, 180 pounds, with medium-length light brown hair. At the time of the incident he was wearing a T-shirt and khaki shorts.

In the third incident, a student was punched in the neck and knocked to the ground at approximately 1:30 a.m. on Sept. 18 on Chancellor Street next to the Bank of America branch building. An African-American male, approximately 5 feet 10 inches tall, jumped from a Ford SUV and punched the victim as he was walking home. It is be lieved that the attack was motivated by the student victim's sexual orientation.

In the two incidents involving young women, police are suspicious that the perpetrator may have been waiting and watching for an opportune time to attack. As a reminder, it is important to pay attention to your surroundings. If you see someone acting suspiciously or whose behavior raises concern with you (observing others from the shadows, looking into windows), then do not hesitate to call 911. The police want you to call so they can check out the situation. You do not need to be facing a dire emergency to call 911. Take mental notes (what the person was wearing, exactly where you saw the person, the direction traveling) to help the police as much as possible.

Students can become targets for those who want to do harm. Perpetrators often come to areas frequented by students, especially in the late-night hours, looking for young people who are enjoying themselves and have let their guards d own. As part of staying safe, please monitor your intake of alcohol, and please watch out for your friends who have been drinking. Do not leave them alone.

If you have any information on the incidents described here, please do not hesitate to call the Charlottesville Police at 434-970-3280 or Crimestoppers at 434-977-4000.

Sincerely,

Allen W. GrovesAssociate Vice President and Dean of Students

Vice President and Chief Student Affairs Officer Lampkin approved distribution of this message.

(Charlottesville, VA) - University of Virginia Associate Vice President and Dean of Students, Allen Groves, reports a female student was sexually assaulted near Grounds.

The incident happened on September 17 but had not previously been reported to media outlets by either Charlottesville police or the University.

In an e-mail to students obtained by the Newsplex, Dean Groves said the student was sexually assaulted near Chancellor Street at about 1:15 a.m. as she walked toward her residence.

"An unidentified white male knocked her to the ground and assaulted her. Because of the circumstances, information was not available earlier to share with you," Groves said.

Chancellor Street is just a short walk from university property and is an area with many fraternities and sororities.

Groves wrote to students that two days after that attack, on September 19, a student reported through a third party that she had been inside a fraternity and was "pushed into a pantry by an unidentified white male." Friends heard her scream and opened the door. The attacker ran.

Groves said he is between the ages of 18 and 20, approximately 5 feet 11 inches tall, 180 pounds, with medium length light brown hair.

"In the two incidents involving young women, police are suspicious that the perpetrator may have been waiting and watching for an opportunity to attack," Groves wrote.

Charlottesville Spokesperson Ric Barrick said Wednesday that his department is investigating the September 17 sexual assault, but the fraternity house incident has not been reported to Charlottesville Police at this time.

The Septemer 17 incident is exactly 11 months after Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington disappeared while attending a concert at the John Paul Jones Arena. And it was one week before the University held a Day of Dialogue about the issues stemming from the violent death of UVa student Yeardley Love.The existence of the Groves e-mail to students was first reported here by Blink On Crime.

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~241~ "The Longer You Love,The Longer You Live,The Stronger You Feel,The More You Can Give."~ Peter Frampton